Luke Gallows
On May 29, 2006, Kane was close to beating Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Title. Kane won by disqualification when a second Kane (Gallows) interrupted the match and attacked the original Kane. The second Kane, henceforth known as Impostor Kane, looked and acted exactly like the original Kane did when he debuted on WWF programming. As a result, Gallows would repeatedly attack the real Kane during or after his matches. Ring announcers claimed that the identity of the Impostor Kane would likely be revealed to be someone from the real Kane's past. The pair finally faced off at the WWE Vengeance Pay-per-view. Surprisingly, Gallows (the impostor) won the match using one of Kane's trademark moves. However, the crowd in attendance did not understand where the storyline was going and barely reacted to these events. One night later, the original Kane attacked the Impostor Kane, removed his mask, and threw him out of the building. This ended the storyline, and Gallows disappeared. On the May 11, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, a vignette aired suggesting that Gallows would be repackaged as Festus Dalton as part of a tag team using a Southern gimmick, alongside Jesse Dalton. On June 2, 2007, however, it was reported that WWE was dropping the "Dalton Boys" gimmick. The explanation for them not showing up on SmackDown was because they got lost on their way to the arena. It marked the second time Hankinson had been dropped from the main roster. Gallows was then renamed "Festus", while Jesse Dalton was just dubbed "Jesse", and on the June 29, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, vignettes hyping Jesse and Festus began to air. For weeks, Jesse would be presented as the mouth-piece of the tandem, who was in awe of his tag team partner. Festus, however, played a character that was mentally challenged and unresponsive. In spite of Festus' dim-witted nature, Jesse kept claiming that Festus was an emotionally driven and physically unstoppable giant. On the September 7, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, there was a segment featuring Jesse and Festus now actually in the arena rather than in a studio. On October 5, Hankinson won his debut match on SmackDown with his partner Jesse. When the opening bell rang, Festus' personality changed into a very focused and angry competitor as compared to the mentally challenged character he had portrayed. When the bell rang signifying the end of the match, Festus returned to his "normal" docile self. On the December 21, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, Festus defeated Deuce in a Santa Match with both of them wearing Santa Claus outfits. On the January 25 edition of SmackDown!, Jesse explained the reason that they had not been on television since the new year was because Festus has been seeing doctors about his "problems". In 2008, Jesse and Festus came out and before the bell rang Jesse explained that Festus had changed. However, Festus did not change and continued to make a determined and monstrous face after the bell had rung. On the March 21, 2008 edition of SmackDown, Jesse and Festus had a chance to face John Morrison and The Miz for the Tag Team Championship, although Morrison and The Miz retained their titles in this match. Festus received his first loss when he wrestled against World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker on the April 11, 2008 edition of SmackDown after passing out while in the Hell's Gate. On April 15, 2009, Festus was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft and, as a result, was separated from his tag team partner Jesse, who remained on SmackDown. After a three-month hiatus from television, Festus returned on the November 27, 2009 edition of SmackDown, repackaged as a villain under the name Luke Gallows, sporting a new attire with a goatee, shaved head, and having lost a considerable amount of weight. After accompanying CM Punk to the ring for his match with Matt Hardy, Punk revealed that Gallows was actually Festus' true identity and claimed that Gallows' family and friends enabled his alcoholic inclination, which led to him being in the mental state he was in as Festus, before stating that Gallows was cured due to Punk showing him the straight edge lifestyle. On the December 11 episode of SmackDown, Gallows made his in-ring re-debut for the brand as he and Punk defeated Hardy and R-Truth after Gallows pinned Hardy with his new finishing move, the "Twelfth Step". On the January 8, 2010 episode of SmackDown, Gallows defeated Hardy in his re-debut singles match. The next week Gallows and Punk defeated Matt Hardy and The Great Khali, The Hart Dynasty and Cryme Tyme in a Fatal Four-Way match to become #1 Contenders for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. On the February 10, 2010 episode of Raw, The Straight Edge Society was eliminated in an Triple Threat Elimination Tag Match between them, The Miz and The Big Show and DX for the Unified Tag Team Championship. The Miz and The Big Show became the new Unified Tag Team Champions. At WrestleMania XXVI Luke Gallows competed in a dark 30-man battle royal to open Wrestlemania which was won by Yoshi Tatsu. On the April 13 episode of WWE NXT, he challenged CM Punk's rookie Darren Young and the stipulation, if Young loses, he will have to surrender his hair to Punk and have it shaved bald. Gallows came close to getting the victory when Young came up with a roll-up and saved his hair, with Punk showing some favor to his rookie and Gallows seeming unhappy. At Extreme Rules, during Punk's Hair match against Rey Mysterio, Gallows and Serena helped Punk throughout the match until they were banned from ringside. On the July 2nd tapings of SmackDown, after a match between Luke Gallows and Kane, a security video was shown by Serena of her being caught drinking in a bar by Punk on the same day of The Undertaker's attack proving The Straight Edge Society's innocence in order to save Punk. Serena begged for forgiveness even after Punk warned her not to, but the Straight Edge Society simply left without her. The following week, however, Serena was forgiven by Punk for her actions, as they embraced, but Gallows did not approve. The following week Gallows was set to fight Big Show but gave the match to the SES Masked Man, who was unmasked as Joey Mercury during the match. On the September 3 edition of Smackdown, Gallows and Punk faced The Big Show in a 2 on 1 handicap match, which Gallows and Punk lost. After the match Punk delivered the GTS on Gallows. On the September 16th edition of WWE Superstars, before a match with MVP, Gallows cut a promo announcing that he was no longer part of the Society by proclaiming he was his own man. Gallows went on to lose the match. On the September 21 taping of SmackDown, Gallows began a slow face turn when he confronted CM Punk in a backstage segment stating that after defeating him, he would have a beer, but lost a match to Punk later in the night. Gallows, now officially established as a face, defeated Vance Archer on the November 4 airing of Superstars. His final TV appearance was during a backstage segment in which Kane was looking for his father, on the November 19, 2010, edition of SmackDown. Gallows was released from his WWE contract on the same day, along with several other superstars. On April 11, 2016, Gallows returned to WWE with Karl Anderson, by attacking The Usos after their match with the Social Outcasts. The following week, during a segment involving Roman Reigns, both Gallows and Karl Anderson attacked Reigns. Earlier in the evening during an interview with AJ Styles, the two appeared, teasing a possible show of unity between them. Gallows and Anderson faced The Usos on the 25 April Raw, and dismantled them before beating up Roman Reigns and seemingly supporting Styles. On the May 2 episode of Raw, Styles teamed with Anderson and Gallows, where they began being known as The Club, defeating Reigns and the Usos. On the May 9 episode of Raw, The Club would face Reigns and the Usos in a 6-man Elimination match, where, following the elimination of both Gallows and Anderson, Reigns and the Usos would win by disqualification after Gallows and Anderson attacked Reigns with a steel chair. The following week on Raw, after The Usos would defeat Anderson and Gallows in a tag team match, Reigns and Styles would come out and brawl alongside The Usos (now collectively The Bloodline) and Anderson and Gallows, respectively. During the brawl, Styles would finally snap, beating Reigns down with a steel chair before hitting the Styles Clash onto the chair. At Extreme Rules, Anderson and Gallows would interfere in Reigns' and Styles' Extreme Rules match for Reigns' WWE World Heavyweight Championship. They would beat down Reigns until the Usos, who lost their Tornado Tag Team match to Anderson and Gallows earlier in the night, would come to Reigns' aid. The two teams would brawl until Reigns would retain. The following night on Raw, AJ Styles requested to leave The Club, stating that the WWE "wasn't Japan". Anderson and Gallows left AJ Styles shortly after Styles would lose to Kevin Owens in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. On the May 30 episode of Raw, AJ Styles would confront a returning John Cena who said the "new era" would have to go through him, before offering Styles his hand. Styles shook his hand, shortly before Anderson and Gallows would interrupt. As Styles and Cena appeared ready to fight Anderson and Gallows, Styles instead beat down Cena repeatedly, reuniting The Club and cementing a heel turn. On July 19, at the 2016 WWE Draft, Gallows, along with Anderson, was drafted to Raw, however, Styles was drafted to SmackDown, thereby splitting up The Club. Gallows and Anderson resumed feuding with The New Day, and took out Big E with a groin injury after a sneak attack. Following this assault, Gallows and Anderson made fun of the situation by appearing in segments dressed as doctors and claiming to be in need of a cure for "Ringpostitis" leading up to a SummerSlam match for the tag team championship, which they won by disqualification because of show guest Jon Stewart and a returning Big E getting involved. In August 2016, after The Dudley Boyz announced their "retirement" in WWE, they were confronted by Primo & Epico. As the duo set up a table to put one of the latter men through it with their 3D finisher, Gallows and Anderson ambushed them, and D-Von Dudley got a Magic Killer through the table, and Bubba Ray Dudley also got one outside of the ring on the floor. Afterwards, they made fun of the team in another segment by claiming to be in 'the retirement home business' to mock their departure. External links * Luke Gallows on Pro Wrestling Fandom * Luke Gallows on Official WWE Wiki Category:American wrestlers Category:Male professional wrestlers Category:People from Maryland Category:Current Superstar Category:Managers Category:SmackDown Superstars Category:SmackDown Tag Team Champions